This invention relates to a skate brake and braking system for the purpose of braking for in-line skates, roller skates and like devices.
In-line skating is one of the fastest growing sports in the United States today. It offers the skater many uniquely enjoyable and functional features, among them being a likeness to ice skating, an excellent exercise benefit and relative ease of use once the skating technique has been mastered. At the same time in-line skating has seen a tremendous rise in the rate of injuries, especially among young children, mostly due to the lack of an effective and easy to use braking mechanism.
Some commonly used braking devices offer little more than a fixed rubber snubber, cantilevered from the front or back of the skate, which requires the skater to shift his or her weight to the opposite skate, balance his or her body weight on this skate and then drag the snubber along the skating surface to effect a braking action. Stopping distances are often great with this design and some planning of when and where to stop is required before engaging the snubber. This design is of little value to the skater when a sudden stop is required. An improvement in design over the snubber is a braking mechanism which is attached to a pivoting a heel portion of the boot, which acts as a lever to push a rubber pad into the skating surface. The main advantages of this design is that it offers a more effective braking action for the skater than the snubber and allows for somewhat better balance to be maintained during braking as some weight is maintained on the braking skate. Disadvantages of this design are the technique required can be difficult to master, it can add a great deal of cost to a skate, thus is commonly used on only one skate and it is effective only in the forward skating direction. Another brake design uses calipers to clamp down on drums within the wheels and is actuated by a cable attached to a hand grip. This design also offers an improved braking effect over the snubber design yet, it can also add a great deal of cost to a skate and requires difficult to master hand to foot coordination. One other important disadvantage of in-line skates and roller skates is that it is difficult to push off or pivot from the toe or heel of the skate without the wheels being made to rotate. Unless the pushing skate is held in a near perpendicular position to the direction of skating the wheels will rotate making pushing off more difficult and awkward than ice skating, an effect which ice skaters who cross-train using in-line skates find to be a nuisance. The same wheel rotation effect takes place when pivoting on the rear or front wheel of the skate. In this case, pivoting can be unsafe as the wheel is allowed to rotate, often times rendering the skater out of control. Although a braking action can be effected with these designs they lack some important advantages and capabilities that are designed into my skate brake and braking system.
The first advantage of my skate brake and braking system is that it gives the skater an ability to shift his or her weight to a position directly over the braking mechanism and to use this weight to control the braking action of the skate, much as is done when ice skating. Because of this, better weight distribution is achieved and balance is maintained on both skates during braking. Another advantage of my skate brake and braking system is the ability to stop in short distances, again similar to ice skating, with little or no planning required due to the effectiveness of the braking mechanism. An additional advantage of my skate brake and braking system is the ability to stop effectively in both the forward and backward skating directions, when a braking mechanism is used at both the frontmost and rearmost wheel positions. Another additional advantage of my skate brake and braking system is the ability to use the braking mechanism to push off and pivot at both the toe and heel of the skate by securing the frontmost or rearmost braking wheel. This allows the skate to be held in line with the skating direction when pushing off and the wheel to be secured from rotation when pivoting, a great improvement over existing designs. In each respect, the pushing off and pivoting capability allow the skater to more effectively simulate ice skating than any other in-line or roller skating device available today. Another important advantage of my skate brake and braking system is, due to the minimal additional cost of the braking mechanism, it can be used on both skates in multiple positions and offers the individual an inexpensive alternative to other available braking mechanisms. This advantage in cost will also provide parents with the ability to easily purchase the disclosed invention on a child's pair of skates thereby protecting the most vulnerable and often injured group of skaters using in-line skates and roller skates today. An additional significant advantage of my skate brake and braking system is its ease of use, an important factor for beginners and small children. Another key benefit of my skate brake and braking system is its ease of manufacture, requiring little change to existing chassis molds. Additionally, my skate brake and braking system can also be applied to other like devices such as skate boards and roller skis. In essence, my skate brake and braking system offers the safest, least costly, most easily learned and effective braking mechanism available today for in-line skates, roller skates and like devices.